Medical and waste disposal personnel are currently exposed to a risk of injury, infection, disease, and death due to contaminated medical instruments known as "sharps". A hypodermic needle used on an AIDS infected patient, for instance, can transmit the deadly disease to anyone who receives even a minor puncture wound from the hypodermic. Such cases are well documented and can occur any time after the sharp is used, including while the sharp is stored in a clinical setting, during transportation to a waste site, during processing of waste, and after the waste is buried. Hypodermic needles are known to have been disinterred from landfills and to have washed up on beaches. As long as a needle remains sharp, there is a risk of injury and infection.
Used sharps are currently deposited in thick-walled plastic containers immediately after use. These containers are then shipped to waste processing sites where they are typically incinerated. However, the containers remain susceptible to puncture. Also, the contaminated sharps in a container in use may injure and infect medical personnel attempting subsequently to insert a sharp into the container.
There are health hazards associated with the incineration of sharps as well, due to the toxic byproducts of the incineration. In addition, there is always the risk at any time before incineration that a sharp may escape the medical waste disposal system and expose others to health risks.